Fact-checking former President Donald Trump's claims about crime in America

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – With Election Day just around the corner, the rhetoric is heated. Former President Donald Trump is using fear as a primary tactic in his bid for the White House, describing major cities as crime-ridden and inundated with what he calls “criminal migrants.”

“You can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped,” former President Donald Trump said during the campaign.

The former president claimed that there had been a wave of “bloodshed, chaos and violent crime” since he left office.

Here are the facts.

FBI data shows violent crime fell nationwide in 2023 for the second straight day, and a Justice Department study of 88 cities showed a 17% drop in the murder rate in the first half of this year, another record decline.

According to US News and World Report, San Diego is locally considered one of the safest major cities in America. Homicide is down 13%, sexual assault is down 17%, gang crime is down 12%, and even overall property crime is down 3%.

Team 10 spoke at length with Escondido Police Chief Ed Varso about crime in the county.

“The most recent data collected statewide shows that overall crime in Escondido has decreased by 14%. Every one of our crime categories, whether property crime or violent crime, is currently declining,” Varso said.

Crime rates rose slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That’s why crime is lower today than it has been in the last 30 years,” says Varso.

Chief Varso worries that property crimes, particularly shoplifting and other retail crimes, may be under-reported as business owners are upset about California laws that do not allow police to arrest people for petty theft.

But violent crime is a different story.

“Violent crime is really at an all-time low for Escondido,” Varso said.

The former president also rails against what he calls “migrant crime,” claiming the United States has become a “trash can for the world.”

There is no separate category for immigration crime, but here are three data points.

Trump is correct that both the number of immigrants entering the country and the number of immigrants with criminal records in their home country stopped at the border have increased dramatically during the Biden-Harris administration.

However, a 2023 Stanford study concluded that immigrants who make it to the United States are 60% less likely to commit crimes than people born in the United States. And here in San Diego County, Escondido's police chief says immigration crime isn't a thing.

“Anecdotally, I would tell you that no one has made me feel like there is an increase when it comes to the immigrant population,” Varso says.